WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a USA company delivering an open-source e-commerce plugin for the WordPress platform. It is designed for all sizes of online businesses. The plugin turns the WordPress site into a store that is highly customisable and it is simple to install. The plugin is a free based product that easily can be integrated with the open-source WordPress content management system (CMS). This makes unlimited possibilities and developers can take advantage of this to create a differentiated online shopping experience. The WooCommerce plugin adds store contact information, payment details, shipping information, extras (like automated taxes), and bulk product uploads to the WordPress website. WordPress is also open-source and free as the plugin. It gives more flexibility and control that both are built to connect and grow as the business grows. WooCommerce generates revenue by selling store themes and plugin extensions to e-commerce companies. There are a wide range of features to support the store: visual design-builder or through code, REST API, numerous themes, customer-journey page builder, SEO, product ratings, unlimited products & images, advanced filters, product variation support, and over 400 extensions and even more WordPress plugins. The platform as one creates a foundation for e-commerce businesses to grow in the wished direction. It is easy to manage products since it follows a linear step-by-step process. Both systems come as free, however, additional extensions and plugins can be purchased. Moreover, costs likely to have in mind: a domain, hosting, theme, web design, payment solutions. This means that in theory this set-up of an e-commerce store can be done with a small budget. When having the website hosted then the security is vital. Therefore it is of great importance to find a web hosting company that supports WooCommerce built stores. An SSL certificate needs to be obtained as well either by a shared option or to buy a private one. WooCommerce doesn’t offer direct customer service as such but they have a documentation page. However, there is a large community of people who share best practices and are also dedicated to different extensions and plugins. Niche e-commerce companies could indeed take advantage of using this as their platform, however, it takes some time to get inserted into all the possibilities.